A South Ayrshire powerchair football team will look forward to a new set of strips and vital running costs thanks to one of their players raising over £1200 for the club.

Stuart Niven from Ayr completed a sponsored manual chair 5km push of Dam Park Stadium on Sunday, October 14. Friends, family and teammates all cheered him on as he wheeled round the athletics track to raise money for his team, South Ayrshire Tigers.

Stuart was involved in a road accident while driving to work eight years ago which left him paralysed from the chest down. He now relies on a motorised wheelchair to get out and about.

The fundraiser was a success with Stuart smashing his target of £500 and collecting a total of over £1200 which will go towards vital running costs of the football team. He said: “It went really well. I managed to push 5km in about one hour and 30 minutes and most importantly the rain stayed away!

“The event was really well supported with approximately 40 people turning up to support me and the club. The founder of the club, Colin Duthie even provided his very own unique style of commentary which was appreciated by all in attendance.

“The supporters had some fun too with some of them racing each other around the track in manual wheelchairs (they all commented on how difficult it was to just push 400m). Two of the coaches even did this dressed in 118 118 fancy dress costumes!”

South Ayrshire Access to Sport formed South Ayrshire Tigers in 2015 in response to a lack of activities for powerchair users in the Ayrshire area and Stuart got on board straight away. They now compete in the Scottish Powerchair Football League.

Stuart said: “Since we began competing in the Scottish Powerchair Football League, the team has come a long way from coming sixth in our first season to this season where we were runners up!

“I’ve seen first-hand what a difference being part of the Tigers has made to the lives of our players (including myself) and I want to see us succeed for years to come.

“On behalf of everyone at South Ayrshire Tigers, I would like to thank all those that have sponsored me and helped me raise over £1200 for the Club.”

The team were very grateful to receive Stuart’s support, writing on South Ayrshire Tiger’s Facebook page afterwards:“The hard work put into the fundraiser by Stuart and his partner Claire shows how much this team means to our players and their families.

“This fundraiser could not have gone ahead without the support of Claire Barbour and Michelle Cook supplying the food and drinks, South Ayrshire Council Sport and Leisure for giving us the venue and manual wheelchairs for the spectators to have a go, and of course Stuart for putting in a bit of effort too! His work behind the scenes at the tigers plays a huge part in the continuation of our club.”